PEAK TWINS!
From 2 babies, club now has 550 members
IT began as a gathering of six young mothers struggling with the stresses of caring for twin babies.
Now the retired nurse who founded a twins club in her living room is celebrating its success in helping thousands of families over the past four decades.
Aileen Crosbie, 74, started what was then known as the Double Trouble Club in 1978, when her twin sons Kenny and Mike were aged six, to offer support to other families facing the challenges of raising twins.
Only six mothers of twins attended the first meeting at Aileen’s home in Edinburgh, where she still lives with husband Sandy.
Now the mother of three has met with some of the club’s 550 current members and their children at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to mark the 40th anniversary of the Edinburgh and Lothians Twins and Multiples Club. Mrs Crosbie said: ‘The first year of parenthood was a hard year, very hard.
‘I felt very isolated and exhausted. It was the practical aspects I had to cope with daily on my own that were most difficult.
‘My twin buggy was too wide to go through shop doorways. It was impossible to go on a bus. I had to push two shopping trolleys around the supermarket as they didn’t have trolleys with seats for twins.
‘I’m so pleased the support group has continued to exist. It seems to have confirmed the old saying a trouble shared is a trouble halved.’
The club has flourished over the years and is today at the forefront of supporting the needs of parents of twins, triplets and higher order multiples in the Edinburgh area.
Kirsty Taylor, the club’s joint chairman, said: ‘We are proud to carry on Aileen’s good work in supporting our members in their journeys as multiple parents.’
The club became a registered charity in 2008 and is affiliated to Tamba (The Twins & Multiple Births Association).
Keith Reed, chief executive of Tamba, said: ‘It’s wonderful so see clubs like this flourishing and we know that they can be a lifeline to so many multiple birth families.’